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The irregular verbs that are built off the inflection for bod (to be) should not present you with any major problems if you have already learned that paradigm fairly well. In many cases, the verbs are a compound of a preposition (often an obsolete one, or an obsolete form of a familiar one) with bod: e.g., hanvod ("to be from", han = archaic "of"), gorvod ("to conquer, overcome", gor = "above, over"), dyvod ("to come", dy = archaic form of i = "to"). In other cases, the compound may include something that was originally an independent verb. In these cases, the bod forms will usually only supply part of the paradigm. These include gwybod ("to know", where the present and imperfect more or less follow the "regular" paradigm using the stem gwydd ), adnabod ("to recognize, know", where the present and imperfect use the stem adwaen-).
You've learned various parts of the BOD paradigm, but here we'll review them and add the rest of the paradigm. Compare these with the endings for the irregular paradigm seen in the last unit. There will be strong parallels, but BOD has enough idiosyncrasies that it's best simply to learn it on its own. There are a number of alternative forms, especially for the third person singular, but I have only included two systematic variant sets for the subjunctive. Notice the general patterns of stems that will help identify these: indicative present (none), imperfect oedd, preterite/pluperfect bu, consuetudinal bydd, subjunctive and imperative bo, be, bydd.
| Person | Indicative | Consuetudinal | Subjunctive | Imperative | |||||||
| Present | Imperfect | Preterite | Pluperfect | Present | Past | Present (2 var.) | Imperfect (2 var.) | ||||
| 1s | wyf | oeddwn | buum | buasswn | byddaf | byddwn | bwyf | bythwyf | bewn | bythwn | - |
| 2s | wyt | oeddud | buost | buassud | byddy | byddud | bych | bythych | beud | bythud | bydd |
| 3s | yw, mae, oes | oedd | bu | buassei | bydd | byddei | bo | bytho | bei | bythei | bid, boed |
| 1p | ym | oeddem | buom | *buassem | byddwn | byddem | bom | bythom | beym | bythem | byddwn |
| 2p | ywch | oeddewch | buawch | *buassewch | byddwch | byddewch | boch | bythoch | *beych | bythewch | byddwch |
| 3p | ynt, maent | oeddynt | buant | buassynt | byddant | byddynt | bont | bythont | beynt | bythynt | bint, boent |
| impersonal | ys | oeddid | buwyd | *buassid | * | byddid | * | byther | * | bythid | *bydder |
* These forms are not attested in the literature, but show the expected form, if predictable.
Let's look at the derivation of the bod parts of the paradigm for one of each of these: hanvod and gwybod. There are a lot of missing forms in the available records, so many of these are reconstructed (and marked with an asterisk as hypothetical).
The present of gwybod doesn't come from the bod-paradigm. Otherwise, the present tense adds the present tense form of bod to the stem. (Note that the impersonal looks more like the regular imperfect, however.) Note that when the first vowel of the ending is a high vowel (e.g. "y" -- and remembering that "w" counts as a vowel for this purpose) the stem vowel may be affected.
| Present | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+wyf | han(d)wyf# | [gwnn] |
| 2s | X+wyt | hanwyt | [gwyddost] |
| 3s | X+yw | hen(d)yw@ | [gwyr] |
| 1p | X+ym | hen(d)ym@ | [gwddom] |
| 2p | X+ywch | *henywch | [gwyddawch] |
| 3p | X+ynt | henynt@ | [gwyddant] |
| imp | han(d)id | [gwys] |
@ As before, forms marked with * show the stem vowel affected by the ending. In actual fact, all the present tense forms of hanvod appear with both han- and hen- as the stem, but I am showing you the examples that best fit the overall pattern for this type of verb.
# Presumably, the alternate stem hand- could appear for any of these, but I have only shown the "d" where there are actual examples with it.
Again, the imperfect of gwybod does not come from the bod-paradigm. The usual forms come from adding the imperfect of bod to the stem.
| Imperfect | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+oeddwn | *hanoeddwn | [gwyddwn] |
| 2s | X+oeddud | han(d)oeddud | [gwyddud] |
| 3s | X+oedd | han(d)oedd | [gwydd(y)ad/gwyddyei] |
| 1p | X+oeddem | *hanoeddem | [gwyddem] |
| 2p | X+oeddewch | *hanoeddewch | [gwyddewch] |
| 3p | X+oeddynt | hanoeddynt | [gwyddynt] |
| imp | [gwyddit] |
In the preterite and pluperfect, note that the initial "b" of the ending will lenite in some verbs and not in others. It has to do with the underlying final letter of the stem -- a letter that isn't necessarily present in any of the forms. Take your cue from the form of the verbal-noun: if it uses -vod then these endings will lenite, if it uses bod then they will not.
| Preterite | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+buum | *hanvuum | gwybuum |
| 2s | X+buost | *hanvuost | gwybuost |
| 3s | X+bu | hanvu | gwybu |
| 1p | X+buom | *hanvuom | *gwybuom |
| 2p | X+buawch | *hanvuawch | *gwybuawch |
| 3p | X+buant | *hanvuant | gwybuant |
| imp | X+buwyd | *hanvuwyd | gwybuwyd |
| Pluperfect | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+buasswn | *hanvuasswn | *gwybuasswn |
| 2s | X+buassud | *hanvuassud | *gwybuassud |
| 3s | X+buassei | *hanvuassei | *gwybuassei |
| 1p | X+buassem | *hanvuassem | *gwybuassem |
| 2p | X+buassewch | *hanvuassewch | *gwybuassewch |
| 3p | X+buassynt | *hanvuassynt | *gwybuassynt |
| (found as gwybuyssynt) | |||
| imp | X+buassid | *hanvuassid | gwybuassid |
Because these verbs are inflected using bod, they have available the two consuetudinal (habitual) tenses, just as bod does. (For verbs not using bod in the inflection, you have to use a periphrastic construction with bod itself to get the same meaning.) We would expect all of these to affect the stem vowel when possible and I have shown this as the "regular" case. In actual usage, forms are found with and without this vowel affection. Normally, the initial "-b-" of the ending will lenite or not similarly to the previous sets. For some unknown reason, hanvod behaves abnormally in the few items here that are actually found.
| Consuetudinal Present/Future | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+byddaf | *henbyddaf | gwybyddaf |
| 2s | X+byddy | henbyddy | gwybyddy |
| 3s | X+bydd | henbydd | gwybydd |
| 1p | X+byddwn | *henbyddwn | gwybyddwn |
| 2p | X+byddwch | *henbyddwch | gwybyddwch |
| 3p | X+byddant | *henbyddant | gwybyddant |
| imp | X+byddir | *henbyddir | gwybyddir |
| Consuetudinal Past | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+byddwn | *henbyddwn | *gwybyddwn |
| 2s | X+byddud | *henbyddud | gwybyddud |
| 3s | X+byddei | *henbyddei | gwybyddei |
| (found as hanbyddei) | |||
| 1p | X+byddem | *henbyddem | *gwybyddem |
| 2p | X+byddewch | *henbyddewch | *gwybyddewch |
| 3p | X+byddynt | *henbyddynt | *gwybyddynt |
| imp | X+byddid | *henbyddid | *gwybyddid |
In the following we see the effects of the clearest sign of the subjunctive (which, however doesn't happen in all verbs) -- provection, or "devoicing" of sounds at the interface between the stem and the inflectional ending. This is caused by an often-invisible "h" that the subjunctive inserts immediately after the stem. In regular verbs, the provection happens to the final consonant of the stem, but here it affects the initial consonant of the ending. The effect can sometimes be unpredictable. Gwybod shows the expected change of "b" to "p", but the attested forms of hanvod show the original "b", the expected "p", and also "ff". "Ff" is actually the most common change among all the X-bod verbs -- gwybod and adnabod are the only ones that show "p" regularly.
| Present Subjunctive | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+h+bwyf | hanbwyf | gwypwyf |
| 2s | X+h+bych | henffych | gwypych |
| 3s | X+h+bo | hanffo | gwypo |
| 1p | X+h+bom | *hanffom | gwypom |
| 2p | X+h+boch | *hanffoch | gwypoch |
| 3p | X+h+bwynt | hanffwynt | gwypwynt |
| imp | X+h+b[yth]er | *hanffer | gwyper |
| Imperfect Subjunctive | template | HANVOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | X+h+bewn | *hanffwn | gwypwn |
| 2s | X+h+beud | *hanffud | gwypud |
| 3s | X+h+bei | hanffei | gwypei |
| 1p | X+h+beym | *henffem? | *gwypem? |
| 2p | X+h+beych | *henffewch? | *gwypewch? |
| 3p | X+h+beynt | *hanffynt | gwypynt |
| imp | X+h+b[yth]id | *hanffid | *gwypid |
| Imperative | template | HANFOD | GWYBOD |
| 1s | - | - | |
| 2s | X+bydd | *henvydd | gwybydd |
| 3s | X+bid/bydded | hanvid | gwyped/gwybydded |
| 1p | X+byddwn | *henvyddwn | gwybyddwn |
| 2p | X+byddwch | *henvyddwch | gwybyddwch |
| 3p | X+byddent | *henvyddent | gwybyddent |
| imp | X+bydder | *henvydder | gwybydder |
The following are conjugations of dyvod (to come), advod (to happen, be), cyfarvod (to meet), gorvod (to overcome, conquer), and adnabod (to know, recognize). Identify which verb they belong to, and what part of the paradigm it belongs to (person, number, tense, mood).